Why they sell you fish that get too big.

Very interesting article indeed - thanks for posting.

My wifes coworker has a 35-40G tank and keeps fancy goldfish in it - usually 4-5 (plus a few other tropicals). Of course the tank is too small for 5 of them - but she gets them when they are about 2 inches and brings them back when they are 4'- 6".

She has the benefit of not having to worry about needing a huge tank for her beloved fish and i guess the store can sell the larger specimens for a better price.

Amazingly she didnt have any disease or deaths in many years.

For me that wouldnt work because i get attached - but if thats not an issue for you and you can work out a system like that with your LFS then why not.

Wow... Really interesting article that makes total sense. Still, there's a lot of LFS's that sell those fish but won't take them back... but an interesting article, nonetheless.

I never thought that they actually WANTED the huge overgrown Pleco's and such that we no longer want. I guess I am glad that they do but it stinks for the fish like Pacu's that grow huge so fast and it stinks for that people that purchase them not knowing that they are gonna grow so fast.

fish shops sell fish which become far too large for the home aquarium for one simple reason ... ignorant people buy them and that translates to money. very few fish shops actually know anything about the fish they sell. and worse, they don't care. they're in business to sell fish and once those fish leave the fish shop, they couldn't care less if the fish lives or dies. in fact if they die, all the better since you'll be back to buy more.

other shops as the article suggests, are only too happy to sell you more fish if you don't manage to kill your initial purchase(s) first. they're also happy to sell you lots of medications for the various diseases your fish succumb to due to lack of knowledge on your part, and lots of crap you don't need such as pH adjusters and other bells and whistles. understand .. i'm not talking about YOU specifically but rather, the generic 'you' the hobbyist.

the only way to combat this phenomenon is for you to DO THE NECESSARY RESEARCH BEFORE YOU BUY THE FISH, RATHER THAN AFTERWARDS WHEN IT'S TOO LATE. if you don't buy that arowana or pacu for your 30 gallon tank, they'll stop selling them.